Nigeria rebels deny being paid by oil firm, vow more attacks (AFP)

LAGOS (AFP) - The most prominent armed gang in Nigeria's restive oil region, MEND, said Wednesday it had not collected protection money from the country's national oil group, and vowed new attacks within 30 days to "prove it." The head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abubakar Yar'Adua, told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that the firm paid 12 million dollars (7.56 million euros) in protection fees to Niger Delta militants to enable the repair of a damaged key crude supply pipeline. "To prove that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mail to AFP. "MEND is aware that huge payments have been made to some criminal gangs in Delta state as protection fee,"... [read full story]